We took the opportunity offered by Ryanair to visit lovely Budapest. We rented a spacious apartment not far from the Danube, an easy tram ride to the center (on tram 2 which was apparently Europe's favourite tram ride!). What we didn't know at the time but soon found out was that we had good restaurants and a jazz club just round the corner.
The first day was spent buying a tourist card and taking a walking tour of Buda from which we learned quite a lot of Hungarian history. How much we remember remains to be seen!
Day two a boat ride on the Danube more history and luckily good weather. The afternoon was spent in the National Museum which has so much stuff! Fortunately all exhibits have an English translation, in fact the second language is English which made everything really easy. We also just had time for a quick visit to a thermal bath.
Day three a visit to the Fine Arts Museum also really interesting, the square commemorating heroes (some were really scary) and the Basilica, a rather baroque interior. A visit to the Christmas market and the obligatory mulled wine, the day topped off with an evening at the jazz club.
In between there was lots of wandering and staring at buildings - most of Pest was built in the 19th century so quite ornate. COVID controls were quite random, didn't even get checked coming back into France.
Had a great time - highly recommended!
